ST. LOUIS — A warning if you're parking downtown anytime soon. Beware of crooks looking to take your money. Cardinals fans leaving Thursday’s home opener returned to find parking tickets on their cars --- even though they thought they paid to park.
It's one of the most exciting days of Spring in St. Louis.
"It was our first time coming to opening day. My whole family came...My 4 children, my grandchildren, my husband and I,” said Julie Kujawa who traveled from Mt. Vernon, Illinois. "We were having a hard time finding parking. We happened across this lot where there were three guys in vests."
It was a grassy lot on Broadway, next to the Still 630 Distillery, about a 10-minute walk to Busch Stadium.
"My son was like 'We've been driving around for 30 minutes trying to find parking. We can't find any’…So we parked there along with probably a hundred other cars. I mean they were rolling in,” she explained.
They went to the game and had a blast. Afterwards, they returned to a big shock.
"Every single car in that lot had a ticket,” she said.
The family was slapped with a $30 fine, now due to the city after they already handed over $40 to what now appears to be a fake parking lot attendant.
"All our staff are identified in uniform and their vests state City of St. Louis Parking Division on the back of their vests. If someone is in an un-uniformed vest – this is a fraudulent and unauthorized attempt to collect your money,” said Felice McClendon with the St. Louis Treasurer’s Office.
City leaders say grassy lots are not meant for parking. They encourage drivers to use city-owned lots and parking garages. There are also private lots but you have to ensure they're legit.
"Knowing what that means to people in the city and outside of the city to come to opening day at a Cardinals game and then to have 100 cars where we were parked alone get parking tickets is just crazy,” Kujawa added.
While the city says the parking tickets are justified, officials say they are investigating the incident since there is no permit on record for the location where those cars parked.